In today's consolation bracket games, Sacramento State plays UCLA at 9 a.m. and Denver meets Texas Tech at 11:10 a.m. The championship bracket has Hawaii taking on Arkansas at 1:20 p.m. and Gonzaga playing North Carolina at 3:30 p.m.

"We played a very good Texas Tech team and tomorrow we play a very good SEC team. Arkansas is the same type of team, but a little bigger and a little quicker," UH coach Jim Bolla said.

Field goals were hard to come by in the first 5 minutes. UH took a 7-6 lead on Pam Tambini's 16-foot jumper at the 15:08 mark. Two 3-point buckets by Janevia Taylor and a pair of free throws from Saundra Cariaga helped the Wahine take a 20-13 lead with 9:36 left in the half.

After Alesha Robertson connected on two free throws for Arkansas, Dalia Solia hit a jumper from the left side and Tanya Smith connected on a short jumper in the lane for a nine-point UH lead.

Smith's two free throws at 1:59 and another one at 1:02 put the Wahine ahead 31-20, but Robertson's driving layup and ensuing free throw with 44.9 seconds on the clock left UH leading 31-23 at the half.

The Wahine defense held the Lady Raiders to seven fields goals on 34 shots (21 percent) in the opening half. Hawaii was good on 39 percent of its attempts (11-for-28).

"We used mostly man defense with a little zone. The last 3 minutes we went to the amoebae which kind of confused them," Bolla said.

The Wahine upped their lead to 14 points twice early in the second half, the second time coming on Cariaga's 3-pointer from the right to make the score 42-28.

But the Wahine did not score again until Taylor connected on a jumper in the lane with 9:40 left as the shot clock was about to expire. During that span, the Lady Raiders (3-1) ran off 13 unanswered points with Lavonda Henderson accounting for six on two layups off of steals and two free throws to make the score 42-41 UH.

"For some reason when people press us we panic. We had to call a couple of timeouts to get them settled down. We go over this in practice, but in a game we lose focus, putting it mildly," Bolla said.

Taylor, who moved to the starting point guard this week, followed her jumper with another, then was fouled breaking the press and sank both free throws for a 48-41 Wahine advantage.

"I like the ball in my hands. I like to control things and settle the team down," Taylor said.

Taylor made both free throws with 28 seconds left for a 55-52 lead. After Robertson missed a driving layup, Tambini hit the front end of a one-and-one for a 56-52 lead with 14 seconds remaining.

Robertson would go the length of the floor for a layup with 10.5 seconds showing, but Tambini, who finished with 14 points, made another free throw for the final score. Cariaga, starting her first game for UH, scored 12 points.

"I was a little nervous in the beginning, but I got out there it flowed good," Cariaga said.

Gonzaga 62, No. 21 UCLA 57

The Bulldogs (5-1) never trailed in defeating a ranked team for the first time in eight attempts.

Gonzaga took advantage of 14 UCLA turnovers and 25 percent shooting (7-for-28) from the field by the Bruins (2-3) to take a 29-17 lead at the half. The Bulldogs then had to fight off a UCLA comeback that saw the Bruins close to within one point (51-50) with 4:20 to play.

"We told the players at halftime that UCLA would make a run at us. We never lost our poise and we stayed with our defensive plan," said Gonzaga coach Kelly Graves.

Kane ended up playing 24 minutes at point guard, more than usual, when Tatriana Lorenzo (Kamehameha '06) left the game at the 13:58 mark in the first half with an injury to her left knee.

Kane also rebounded a missed free throw with 7 seconds left, then made a free throw for the final GU point.

"We just played our game. We focused on No. 45 (UCLA senior guard Noelle Quinn who received votes on the Associated Press preseason All-America team). After that is was all team. Our strength is team chemistry," Kane said.

To control Quinn's production, Graves rotated Katy Ridenour, Michelle Elliott and Bjorkland on defense. Quinn was held to one point and was 0-for-8 from the field.

Elliott led the Bulldogs with 20 points while UCLA's Chinyere Ibekwe had game highs with 21 points and 11 boards.

No. 2 North Carolina 99, Sacramento State 38

The Tar Heels (4-0) held their fourth consecutive opponent under 40 points by limiting the Hornets (1-4) to just eight second-half points. At the other end the Tar Heels scored a season-high 99 points and are averaging 92 points a game.

Erlana Larkins led five UNC players in double figures with 21 points. Camille Little followed with 16 points and 10 rebounds to help the Tar Heels control the boards 59-24.

Larkins' two free throws put North Carolina ahead 14-13 with 12:50 left in the first half. The Tar Heels built a 15-point (33-18) lead over the next 4 minutes and cruised the easy win.